The service is always excellent and on this night it was also informative as our friendly table captain -- let's call him Mike -- turned into a BlackBerry case study of sorts for us, illustrating there is both much opportunity for BlackBerry and much hard work yet to be done in the competitive US market.

Upon being seated at our table and in true CrackBerry fashion, Bla1ze, Adam and I all had our Z10s busted out. When not in our hands, they were sitting face up on the table (and for the record, all three colors were represented - white, black and developer-edition red).

The conversation turned to BlackBerry as soon as Mike came to the table. With all the phones out, you could see him do a double and then triple take:

"Is that a new BlackBerry?"

We let him know that it was.

"Can I hold it?"

He picked up Adam's black Z10, and Adam showed him how to swipe the display on.

"Woah. This is different than other BlackBerrys. Is there a name for this OS?"

We told him it's BlackBerry 10.

"What's the phone called?"

We told him it's called the BlackBerry Z10.

"Never heard of it. Is it coming out soon?"

We told him it was already out on AT&T, hitting T-Mobile the next day and would be out on Verizon on Thursday.

"Cool. I'm on Verizon. Never heard of this at all. Good that BlackBerry has a new phone coming, they needed one. I used to have a BlackBerry Curve. Then I got an HTC Evo for a while. Picked up the iPhone 5 a few months ago. The only thing I missed from the Evo to the iPhone 5 was the swype keyboard. But the iPhone is sooo boring. How's the keyboard on this one?"

We showed him how the BB10 keyboard works, along with some of the gestures and the Hub, all of which he was pleasantly surprised and impressed with.

"I like the size of this. One of my friends came by the other week with this giant phone... Samsung... Note II. It was ridiculous. He liked the size I guess, but I thought it was too big for carrying around and typing. This seems nice. Let me compare it to my iPhone."

Mike pulled out his iPhone to size it up to the Z10. I explained how BlackBerry picked the size of the Z10 very deliberately to make it optimal for both two thumb typing while maintaining the ability to use it with one hand.

"Do you guys work for BlackBerry or something?"

Adam let him know that we were with CrackBerry.

"I know CrackBerry! I used to be on that site a lot back when I had my Curve. That's crazy."

We told him how we're chilling in NYC for a bit, seeing how the US launch goes and spreading the word.

"When's Verizon getting it again?"

We reiterated it would be available come Thursday.

"I'm going to have to go check it out. I think I'm going to get it. This is nice. I always liked my BlackBerry. I hope they do well with it."

From there we went about ordering and eating our delicious dinner. We chatted a few more times with Mike throughout the night.

Reflecting on our table conversation as we cabbed back to CB HQ after dinner, it was clear that a one-off conversation like this illustrated pretty well both the opportunities and challenges for BlackBerry in the US market. As somebody who follows BlackBerry so closely, I had a hard time accepting that a guy like Mike had not yet heard of BlackBerry 10 or the BlackBerry Z10. He wasn't a hardcore tech junkie, but he definitely wasn't clued out. He knew mobile enough that I feel he should have known about BB10 already.

Obviously there is still a lot of work for BlackBerry to do on the marketing front. Heck, there's work for CrackBerry to do on the awareness front too. With Mike being a former CrackBerry member, I was mad at myself that he didn't know about BB10. Expect to see some CrackBerry newsletters hit your email inbox soon - we need to get on reaching out to our 3.5+ million member database. There are some past members here who need to be informed of the new BlackBerry and CrackBerry.

The conversation also reminded me that when it comes to the competitive side of mobile, things are not as cut and dry as we sometimes think. Tech reviewers and tech enthusiasts feel like they have to score reviews, rate and compare every feature possible, and try to determine what is the best phone at any given moment for everybody. In reality, the average person tends to look at things differently. In this case, Mike had no loyalty to Android. He thought his new iPhone was boring (something we seem to hear more and more these days from iPhone owners) and was already ready to switch to something else, and he had no ill will against BlackBerry. In fact, it was quite the opposite - knowing there was a new BlackBerry he was ready to go full circle and come back to BB again. Definitely hope for BlackBerry in all of that.

The take away from all of this? Sell Like Hell. It's not just a cool quote from BlackBerry's CEO.... it's what they need to do!

Reader comments

A BlackBerry 10 story made in SoHo

The problem I see is, we here on CrackBerry are addicts for anything BlackBerry. We visit this site religiously and we know everything there is to know about BlackBerry and its competitors. It is easy to feel like we are in the majority when it comes to talking tech and knowing what the latestest gadget is (in this case phones). Unfortunately the true majority is just not wired the way we are. The majority will herd toward the biggest flashing neon light there is and they will buy into that because there seems to be nothing else.
Most people don't want to research the next best thing. They want the next best thing to punch them in the face and tell them "This is what you need". Apple did a really good job of advertising like that and soon after so did Samsung. They told the masses what they should have. BlackBerry on the other hand stood by the sidelines saying "hey if you want to look at the alternatives, we may have something for you" All sheepish like.
We need to punch the masses in the face and say. "BB10 is what you need"!
So like the awesome Thor says.
"Let's Rock 'n Roll This" and
"Seel Like Hell"
Cheers,

I am from South Africa the same thing happened here there was no adverts to let the public know that the new BlackBerry 10 is coming i went to all the big malls in Pretoria & Johannesburg not one of them Vodacom MTN or Cell C did advanced the new BlackBerry 10 so it not a surprise that there are stil people that have not heard anything yet about the blackberry 10

I'm just an old fart and don't know anything about the "social Media" craze but I have heard it can move mountains. Maybe a campaign on that front? And how about YouTube? Do we need more good demo videos there?

As for the US marketing I think this might really pick up now that phones are more available.

Just left the sat store. Going well until the BB re asked me to sign into my Twitter account to demo it, and the DIDN'T KNOW how to sign me out. You have to actually delete the user profile. Not like that on iOS or Droid.

Still AT&T can almost match my 2-line Sprint plan dollar for dollar. Picking up one phone later for a 30 day test drive.

Really interesting story. I totally share ur experiences. I live in Bangkok right now and even here they released the Z10. Always when I get it out of my pocket, everybody is curious. After showing the main functions (I love it) everybody is just flashed And asking so many questions. But what we just got from the Quartal report is exactly what we need. We have a great product n now it's time for further investments. Try to get a job at BlackBerry Bangkok cuz I'm so committed to BB.

Great story Kevin! You hit the problem directly: advertising more about the BB Z10 and getting the "word" out to people about it will bring a sharp reality curve that says " BlackBerry is alive just as strong, and something new has arrived".

Great article Kev, it's amazing what ideas can spark up in random moments of everyday life.
The e-mail newsletters are a great idea to keep former subscribers in the loop.
This idea of yours is a good example of great thinking from a business standpoint. Sure, you're not a salesman... But pitching in will benefit both Black and Crack.
I only had my Z10 for 2 days, (I got my Z10 at the T-mobile launch on Tuesday) and I already had to give some folks the rundown after asking me about it. And although word-of-mouth is the best salesman, every marketing strategy counts.

ps. If you guys are into steak (what dude isn't?), you boys should head down to Delmonico's on Beaver St. (Wall St. area). SERIOUS MEAT my friend.

Ha ha, funny reading some of these stories. I never see an iPhone 5 guy telling anyone at a cell store how great they are and showing it off... but people seem passionate about the new Z10 if they have one. I spent my waiting in line time telling a guy at a Telus store how the new Z10 was hands down the best BlackBerry yet and it has retired my iPhone 4 to boring status. When I was leaving I heard him talking to a rep about switching to the Z10. I tell my wife every second day "Did I mention How much I love my new Z10!" I'm sure she wishes I never got one, but I'm promising her a Q10 as soon as it's here, and now she's excited to see what all my blathering has been about lol.

I live in Indiana and I know very VERY few people who own a BB now. In fact... I know of 1 and thats my old man. Anytime I am sitting somewhere with friends I always leave my BlackBerry sitting out on the table face up and I ALWAYS get a comment from someone saying "BlackBerry is still around? I used to have one before my (insert other phone here) and I loved it! Didn't know they were still out there." I don't know anybody who used to have a BB who absolutely hated it. It seems like everybody loved it when they owned one but the fancy iPhone and Android phones won them over. Well guess what....BlackBerry is back!

I love my Z10. I talk to everyone about it. So far one co-worker (now friend) has purchased the Z, one other has said she plans to buy one soon (presently on ios), and another on ios said she is jealous when I showed off the keyboard. I believe we can make this work (be a big part of the "Sell Like Hell" program), but it will not be without effort. Thank God we all love our BB10's, so promoting the Z10 and BB10 is not difficult. I consider it a pleasure and an honour when I'm asked to talk about it. "Is this the New BlackBerry?!" Yes! The Z10!!!!... :) Thank you for the article Kevin. Very cool stuff. Hope Mike does buy the Z and we find out about it while you are still in NY. That would be a very cool ending to your story.

They got a bunch of different strategies all working together... Ask Malcolm Gladwell; Trends don't just happen overnight, ( ie after a launch and an ad). These things take a while to bubble up, ESPECIALLY when you have some negative brand perception to overcome.... Wait 'till the #Hipsters get a hold of this phone... Shits gonna go down. Hear that TAME IMPALA on the "Keep Moving" spots? This French dude knows what's going on w/marketing and all you "Long on BlackBerry" mofos need to chill our for a quarter.

OH, You know what would help out us early adopters AND work to reach the folks in the "Other" camps? Make BBM multi platform, and with BB10-style design...

We've always known this was going to be a monumental fight. One customer at a time. Not a sprint but a marathon. You don't change almost 10 years of Apple and Android dogma overnight. When Thor said "SELL LIKE HELL" he meant it. I think it's important for all of us Crackberrians to spread the news on this great phone and that Blackberry is BACK with a vengence. I know I have and have already converted 2 people.... so far......

Marketing is soooo important to any business! Apple, Dyson, et al have been successful, and they are not even great products, but very good at marketing. Good marketing engages a customer emotionally. Word of mouth is one form of marketing, but Blackberry really needs to pull out all the stops! Co-workers (hospital) and stores that sell BB do not know much IF anything about the new BB. Its so frustrating to walk into a ATT or Verizon and have the sales team be so uninformed! Most people who have just purchased a cell phone will be reluctant to pay the early penalty of switching to a BB once they see it. Blackberry needs to start SHOUTING! I finally get mine tomorrow! I will do what I can to promote BB (I need my shares to keep rising too!).

I have to say im more than positive if more people were made aware of the new BB 10 phone from good commercials showing the phones OS and its features and etc than people moving in it and much better marketing support from the carries they would take more of an interest! I don't understand Mr Heins said in the past that carries were very supportive of their OS and would like a third phone option. So whats with all this lack of support from AT&T and T-moble not properly displaying the phones in the front so they can be visible to the public or announcing of the new BB 10?

Hey Kevin, since you guys have connections to BB headquarters or to Mr Heins, you should definitely let him know how unaware most of the people are in the U.S about the new BB 10 OS. I think all the success stories we re hearing on this article shows that the hardcore loyal BB users are doing a better job of advertising the new phone to people than their commercials are or from the carries themselves. The keep moving commercials sucks! Too much showing people moving and not enough showing off the physical phone, the new BB 10 OS and its features. BlackBerry should be so thankful that there is dedicated site with good people working there (CB) bringing its loyal users the latest BB news!!!

The most effective to advertising BB Z10&Q10 are by sending out all the BlackBerry army to go out on the street of the big and most populating cities with the Z10&Q10 show to the people what this device cans do that other devices unable to do or challenge anyone with an Android/IOS devices. I think this is the most effective way to bring Blackberry to its glory day again.

I think verizon will be a major factor, i was in their store 3 days ago and there was alot of buzz about the Z10 .it was really nice to go into a verizon store and their sales staff not trying to talk you out of a berry but encourage you to buy one when it comes out. GO BIG RED!!!!

I'm getting all kind of second looks when I pull out my sexy Zoro 10. I really think we need to sell it ourselves. Screw waiting on the Carrier. It's blackberry's time to shine and we finally have a phone that we can brag about.

Well, i think that what BB is doing is, waiting for all carriers availability to the market, then they're gonna wait a bit more to get some revenue with the first sales, that would help to get more money for advertisement, and it would be much better to do a massive ad campaign when at least 5 to 10% of potential customers already have the phone, than they'll trow it all out.

Think about it, you see the ads, and you see the phone around, it creates hype again.

Here is where Blackberry has a definite advantage over certain other platforms. There are former users who are willing to give the new Blackberry a try, but they can't do that if they don't know about it. Now, it's up to BB to market like hell, if they want us to sell like hell because people are not going to buy a phone if they believe the company is not going to be around. I have been talking up the new OS for months now, and almost everyone I spoke with says that BB is going out of business. Blackberry needs to correct this image pronto.

I have been very concerned as far as the amount of marketing for BB10 in the U.S. I know BlackBerry has stepped it up but more needs to be done. I'm no marketing genius but at least make people aware that BlackBerry is a revolutionized company with a transformed platform ready to meet the consumer's demands in todays hectic tech world.

"Obviously there is still a lot of work for BlackBerry to do on the marketing front. Heck, there's work for CrackBerry to do on the awareness front too. With Mike being a former CrackBerry member, I was mad at myself that he didn't know about BB10. Expect to see some CrackBerry newsletters hit your email inbox soon - we need to get on reaching out to our 3.5+ million member database. There are some past members here who need to be informed of the new BlackBerry and CrackBerry." THIS IS THE REALEST THING YOU EVER WROTE!

Great article and assessment of how it is here in the states. Nearly everyone has an iPhone or Android phone. Very few of those holding onto the BlackBerry phones are die-hard BlackBerry fans/techies, like myself. Most smartphone users here have no real loyalties to anything other than the best here and now. They like having the ability to react to, or have an application for whatever the circumstance that presents itself.

In reality, we all know that BlackBerry wasn't always able to those things as efficiently, or at all in some cases. However; we sacrificed, because we knew that the things it did do well, we couldn't live without on a mobile device.

Now entering into a new era for BlackBerry, not much has changed in our daily routine. We're still required to cut through all the negative sentiment, the clouds of misconception, and the overwhelming fixation for iPhone and Android in so many people, BUT now we can do so with a simple demo of our new phones and mobile computing platform. Yes, there's still a lot of work left to be done with some kinks, but the fact that BlackBerry has done something truly unique holds a lot of weight. This OS is fresh, it's sleek, it's sexy, it's advanced, and it's all ours. We're coming back for the crown.

I was at Swiss Chalet with my family, had my phone out, and the waiter said "Woah, is that the new BlackBerry?", I said Yes, and he said "Wow, haven't seen one in person yet"; he was enthusiastic, but the fact that he didn't see one worried me a bit

I always do my bit to Sell Like Hell when it comes to BB10, but a lot of people refuse to listen -- "I had a Curve and it always hung and had to reboot, the BB browser sucks, and was so slow, never again!!" and the like, ad nauseam. But some people ARE keen to it, and get excited when they see a Z10, exactly as described in this article.

The Best Buy in Canada has them spread out throughout the cellular companies on display. White beside Black. They are the sharpest phones on display. Very professional and clean looking. The Android devices and iphone look like toys. However the sales people are definitely biased and uneducated.

Not only SEND out some CrackBerry emails - but I'd bet BlackBerry would pay a pretty penny for your list of email addresses! - I wouldn't be mad if you sold or rented MY info to them! Not sure what the site terms are but . . . .

Similar thing with me. My daughter and I were at here university res and showed them our Z10. I asked what they had and the response "I only gave an IPhone". I've been predicting this for eight months.

This is the exact type of interraction you can get about BB time and time again. I would always get, "when are you going to give that Blackberry up," from all sides, and that's with a Torch. The BB10 and Z10 is latest and greatest and people respond to it. Really nice to be the cool kid again. :)

Living in New York City and in a very cultured neighborhood, I still look around the streets, riding the NYC MTA buses, subways, LIRR and Metro North trains, even walking around the job with my Z10 in my hands since January. Only one person asked me, "Is that the new BlackBerry?" and he's my doctor this past weekend. Still waiting for someone in NYC to ask me the same question and see a good demo of the phone. BlackBerry seriously need more advertising, marketing and appearing on many US TV programs to plug the phone and what it can do. Right now, a ton of people doesn't know that this phone exist.

I work for at&t and in my store, my sales rep was with a customer who was purchasing an iphone. I had overheard her mom or aunt say something about how she used to love her blackberry. So I stopped what I was doing and walked over and observed. When the conversation stopped I stepped in and asked Her" Have you seen the new BlackBerry? " she sid that she has heard about it so I pulled mine out and handed it to her. She was in awe as I showed her a few features and she started talking about how much she missed her blackberry as she sat there with this look of boredom towards her iphone, lol. After everything was said and done, I took her number and gave her my card and she left. On April 1st she is coming in and getting the Z10 because of everything that we had talked about and I had brought that spark for blackberry back. It's situations like this that are going to make customers in stores across the U.S. Peek more interest towards blackberry while using other devices. I'm sorry, but in my personal opinion its war!!! Hahaha haha! You guys rock and it's amazing to see all of the Crackberry readers on here and see the following of blackberry users. This place is great! Take care all.

Hey all,
I have heard a tremendous amount of negativity about problems with the American Z10 launch and lack of store support and proper displays etc. I live in Canada and I would like to point out that Canadian stores still have many of these same problems yet the phone is still selling well. My wife just got her Z10 a couple weeks ago and while at the cell shop I actually had to show the salesperson phone features etc. When I did he was very impressed. It's my opinion that current sales aren't being driven at all by store sales people but by actual phone users. Everywhere I go I show off the phone and people just love and are considering it regardless of their current phone platform. Basically I believe store sales people could care less which phone they sell and push the phones that they think are easiest to sell such as iphone and S3. However once people see the Z10 in action people will be converted. Cause let's be honest with all the bells and whistles on a phone people just want some that works and allows them to get shit done. "BlackBerry get shit done"

Kevin, that was an interesting encounter you had with Mike. In addition to your observation about awareness of the Z10, I also notice occasional posts in the forums about questions regarding the Z10 functions. Some people would be best served if they were to review some of your "how-to" articles posted weeks ago when the Z10 first became available. I know its easy to post a question to CrackBerry Population when an issue arises but I wonder how many of the 3.5+ million members are fully aware of the Z10. Just wanted to contribute that even if it makes no sense.

Yeah I've been promoting the Z10 to members at my hospital where I am an Emergency room physician. People are floored by the keyboard and the screen share. I would say that the keep moving campaign is OK...not great. It doesn't demonstrate the features well. I saw the screen share commercial with the fetus ultrasound and the dad to be getting the flowers. I don't think the lay person even understands what they were looking at. Come on BlackBerry. I'm routing for you guys but I really think you need to do a better job showing what the Z10 can do.

Windows phone (Nokia) uses Bold bright colors to be noticed, Apple uses (celeb, aspirational, status symbol cues to be noticed.
Samsung uses wild theatrical performances to be noticed, what is BlackBerry's public character and makeup?
From the advertising i have seen im still not sure and i think HTC has a similar problem.
We all know that BlackBerry is a get things done kind of company and the men in suits are informed and well aware of its merits.
I feel that BlackBerry could benefit by taking a much edgier approach to its public image and marketing with the general public. Something like BORNE or 007 using a Z10/Q10 on a mission even just to get home on time for dinner so that the wife does not become a double agent and come out to eliminate him (Tongue in cheek) You know, just have fun with it but make it exciting and dangerous.
These phone NEED TO STAND OUT, these is so much bombardment of images and information for the consumer that its easy to get overload quickly and we all have shorter and shorter attention spans so...
Target the younger users and get them talking about BlackBerry Z10/Q10, They will tell/Show their friends and guess what, even their Mums (MOMS) and Dads (POPS) WHAM, u got yaself some serious mindshare.
Get some smart kids to brainstorm some crazy videos, go viral and see if you dont start seeing some improved exposure.

Here in the UK I find the marketing fairly poor as well. To me the phone is being treated by the carriers as a 4th option behind iphone Samsung and windows. It is not being treated as a high end device. BlackBerry needs to take a leaf from apple and blitz with their own marketing. Even windows does more marketing and apple has ramped up theirs as well.

This has been my comments all along. I see it happening here in San Diego all along. Carriers sales force are not helping BlackBerry either whether it is because of bias or simply ignorance, they are not pushing the product. When I went to pick up my Z10 at the AT&T store where my friend works, a couple was next to me switching from Verizon. When it came to the phone selection, the clerk talked about other phones (with enthusiasm) and at the end ne mentioned that "Oh, and BlackBerry Just came out with a new Phone" That was it regarding the Z10. The gentleman had an older OS 6 devise on his hand. The wife was asking about an I Phone 5 because her friends had one. I took a moment to interrupt the conversation by asking the gentlemen how he liked his BlackBerry and what he would like to see change in it and on his new phone.
After listening to what he likes and what he would like to have on his new phone, I picked up the AT&T demo unit my friend had and showed him the Z10. This guy was just like Mike from the story except that he has never heard of crackberry.com.
At the end I do not know if the couple ended up buying a couple of Z10 or not (I had to return to my office), but at least they went away knowing more about the new BlackBerry.

The lady at my church just got her Iphone 5 through her work a few months ago and she kind of happy with it. I saw she plays with it every Sunday and this passed Sunday I decided to approach her and told her that Iphone 5 is nothing new than Iphone 4s she agreed. I told her about BlackBerry Z10 just came out. She asked me what is it call? I told her Z10 but pronounce Zed 10 in French. Oh, I see... I used to have a BlackBerry before my company replaced them with an Iphone. She said she really like BlackBerry keyboard. I told her the BlackBerry Z10 keyboard is better than any smartphone keyboard on the market right now especially, it has added more features. I told her about the HUB, Flow, Peek, Typing, BlackBerry Balance, Camera TimeShift and BBM video share screen. After I explained to her how each function work, her jaw dropped and her eye's balls as big as an egg. She told me she really like the features very much especially, the BlackBerry Balance, BBM video share screen and camera TimeShift(she is picture maniac). She said for sure she is going to get one. Last she said she really like BlackBerry Balance because she does not want her IT dept. to see what on her phone.

This is such a good example of what the problem is, but still a situation where there is hope.

I look at the example of my friend from the other day mm he is on at&t got a 9810 after his iPhone 4S broke because he was bored, because it was only $50. I was pretty surprised buy happy because I got a new BBM buddy. I told him about BlackBerry10 and showed him some videos, and he definitely thought it was cool, but I thought, "Maybe he's just going along with what I think is cool..." This was was around a year ago.

Fast forward to last Tuesday, he BBM'D me to invite me to his birthday party last Friday...and dropped a bombshell : "Oh I forgot to tell you, I pre ordered my new BlackBerry and I should have it by Friday at my party."

I was stunned. And jealous because he ended up with a Z10 before me. But I was also really happy because I had no idea that my showing him videos from time to time and mentioning how excited I was for the Z10 could lead directly to a sale of a phone. We went out on Wednesday before he got it, with our friends. I jokingly asked his wife if she was excited too and she said she was annoyed because ALL he could talk about for the last month was BlackBerry10...kind of joking, kind of not haha.

I checked out the Z10 last Thursday at an at&t store, a day before Best Buy had his. I told him he HAD to go play with a live Z10. He did. He was in love. He went to the Best Buy which was in the same parking lot, to try and get his Z10 early, but they made him wait until Friday.

The party came and when I got there I was like, Happy Birthday, Show Me Your Phone!!!! He was drunk, so his wife was holding it and taking calls from guests who were lost on their way..I thought it was interesting how much she likes the Z10 too, especial after I showed her the Time Shift feature.

Our other friend had just gotten an iPhone5, upgrading from his old Bold 9000. He was showing off some "Cool" features that his phone had after being jailbroken... I was showing off how cool the Z10 was out of the box.

Did not mean to write "mm" in the first line of the second paragraph, I meant to hit the period twice on my Z10......CrackBerry on my PlayBook says I do not have sufficient permissions to edit it my comment...hmm <--I DID mean to type that.

I'm from Kitchener-Waterloo. And it's pretty much just a given everyone knows about BB10 here. Maybe not to the extent of CrackBerry users, but at least know. Have the KeepMoving ad campaigns been running south of the border? And that brings to question, are they good enough at showing off the phone and not people literally moving.

BB has a difficult, uphill battle in the US. So much negative sentiment. Very little brand awareness and what there is seems to be that BB is going bankrupt. I have seen zero tv advertising for the Z10 here in Chicago.

Recently in NYC I had 2 occasions where my lunch and my dinner were left half eaten having gone through similar experiences on a shoot assignment. Only pleasant thing was my dinner tab was picked up by the couple next to me whom first inquired on my Z10 (they felt bad that it started a mini show and tell).

The old days of show and tell works well for educating small groups, from that we hope that word spreads a little more and that they go to the web to get more.

Blackberry should hire me to stand out in front of apple stores and give away Z10's.
They should give everyone a nice BB10 Ballcap with each purchase.
Have a Nationwide and Canada wide sweepstakes that if you have bought or buy a Z10 then you get entered to win the very same type of Lambo that has the BBRY10 plate on it.

I'm from the UK and just had a conversation with a friend about the new z10, I was getting her BBM and I was using my z10, showed her a few features and she's sold. I often have my phone in public and get lots of questions about it. It's crazy the numbers of people who don't know anything about the new BlackBerry 10 OS. More publicity from BlackBerry and I recon loads of people will upgrade and come back to blackberry. It's a fantastic device, with more apps coming everyday for me it's the best device around

OH, And that's another thing. The BB faithful are actually selling like hell. How about rewarding the faithful? Maybe some type of referral gift for each referred person that buys a Z-10 or Q10? Easy enough to do by BBID.

This happened to me yesterday at a store. I was using my Z10 to look up the list of items my girlfriend to me to pick up when a guy walking by asked what kind of blackberry is that. I told him that it was the new Z10. He said cool I was going to go into best buy to see if they had it yet, I really want to see what it was all about. I showed as much about the phone as I could and when the demo was over not only was he impressed but so was his wife. He even took my pin number so that he could add me on BBM. Not even an hour later I got a new request on BBM from him. It was the best feeling to know I was responsible for that sale. Be his wife got one as well

On fox 10 phoenix news this morning ( the Female anchor is a total Apple fan girl) they had a story about the Iphone being available on T-mobile for no contract etc. Also mentioned the Galaxy s4 was coming. As they went to the break the female anchor said ohh I can't wait for the new Iphone and the weatherman said something about the new BlackBerry slough. I tweeted to them the following.

"BlackBerry 10 is the new OS. Iphone OS 5 Yrs old and the same old stuff. BB10 blows away Iphone. Try it and move to the future."

I said it before, I'll say it again. Without looking back at the missed oppurtunity of the Super Bowl, Blackberry needs to release a Dominos like marketing campaign. Blanket the US with the message, "We screwed up. We know Blackberry fell behind. We believe we have fixed things. This is BB10! Try us for 30 days, if you don't like it I will personally guaranty your return 100% on any carrier. We will pay the re-stocking fee!" Something along those lines. Show the world they mean business, they have real faith in the platform, and let people know BB10 is not another re-hashed outdated Java phone.

But see that's the misconception and the proof. It's not about Apps. Apps, as we know them, will be a thing of the past shortly. It's about USER EXPERIENCE i.e. "Interface." It's how Apple stole the market in the first place. Android didn't provide a new UI it just piggy backed on the App World that Apple created. The Z10 provides a NEW EXPERIENCE which is what our Microwave Culture is starved for. I always describe using the Z10 like playing a very addictive video game. It's not about the Apps it's about how you interact with it and the interaction is SUPER!

Great Z10 story. And I can definitely relate. Anytime someone sees my Z10 (which I always make a point to proudly display anywhere I go, restaurants, work, even just walking around), they always ask that same question "Hey, is that the new Blackberry", and I'm always more then happy to show them the features. Not one person ever said they didn't like it. In fact, most people, if not all of them said how incredible the phone was. Even my brother who will most likely be burried in an iphone shapped coffin admitted (and I quote) "Apple has alot of catching up to do!". Even die-hard iphone users are saying how great of a device the Z10 is. He'll never switch, but he keeps wanting to play with it every time I see him. Word of mouth is what will get this phone selling. If we have 1 million people who bought the phone, and everyone shows a few people, we could easily double sales just by word of mouth. I'll keep 'selling like hell" as much as I can. Best phone on the market, hands down, no question about it.

Thats so true ...me working at costco ...everytime i see a customer with a old bb ...i allways mention the bbZ10 and Q10 for those i might think that love the keyboard . And most of them never heard of it !!! Some were already thinking of switching to android ...but i stop them and tell them about the Z10 ...hopefully they make the right decision :)

Today I was in a phone shop in Germany and they had no clue that the Z10 was already available since three weeks. I had to show them my Z10 to make them believe.. now they ordered it. I dunno what to say. Is it lazy carriers or the bad marketing of BlackBerry?

It is sooo frustrating here! Yesterday I at lunch there was a news report about T-Mobile (ABC Philla.). They talked about the new price plans, and the iphone5 coming out in April. No mention about Blackberry.....On Launch Day...WTF! I am at least starting to see comercials on TV. But again, people diving across the grass up ladders and shit. Show what the phone does, not just hey new phone, showcase it. Apple comercials say look at this phone and all it does. The new Pr guy needs to kick it in high gear.

Word of mouth and demonstrations like yousr will sell this phone all day. I can wow a person with the Z10 in less than 30 seconds so it doesn't take much to drum up sales. I bought the Z10 just to try out the OS, I wanted the Q10 but of course I couldn't wait that long!!! The best OS in the world today. Simple as that.

Still waiting to get my 3 verizon z1o phones but have already convinced one guy on twitter to get one. Its not all that hard to at least peak someone's interst...seems to me there are a lot of people out there looking for something new and better and BB10 represents that...

we see it in the forums all the time.. about how blackberry needs to step up their marketing.. and how carriers have employees that try to talk down about new blackberries.. imagine if he went to a carrier without meeting the crackberry team. and the employee tried to talk the guy into buy an iphone or android cuz of commission.

commercials are good.. sure the carriers are supporting the new blackberries.. but are the carrier's employees supporting it?

i think blackberry needs to be more hands on. they need people on the street.. like the blackberry van.. and stuff.. or just keep on paying for dinners for the crackberry team..

Where did you get that from? Blackberry is already going about with their vans and marketing. They aren't paying people or crackberry to have dinners either. Please have something to backup your claims.

Being from Canada, I hear about how bad the marketing and awareness is for BlackBerry in the US, but like you say, how the heck could he not have heard SOMETHING about BlackBerry 10? Especially right after a fairly major launch. As someone living in BlackBerry's backyard, it's hard to fathom and it points to how BlackBerry seems to be slighting the US right now and focusing on other markets where they are strongest.

Kevin, this article hits the nail on the head..... Z10 is a great phone, but NO ONE KNOWS THE Z10 is out. Blackberrys marketing for the Z10 in the US has been extremely subpar. They need to start giving out the Z10 on popular talk shows (Kelly and Michael, Ellen) have it featured on popular shows..The voice, american idol, Duck Dynasty lol. I'm sorry, but Thorstein isn't being honest in carrier support and even a blind man can see that. Zero Carrier commercials for the Z10.

I went to an ATT store in the Bronx and they had the Z10 towards the back of the store. I saw some display cases and assumed that the new BlackBerry must be in one, nope! I stood in there scanning the place for a good 2 minutes before I saw it. I went in there looking for the Z10 and it took me a while, the avg consumer wouldn't even know the phone exists.

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